teacher pay

Andrea Brawdy, a special education teacher at James Griffith Intermediate School in Choctaw, Oklahoma, just received the first pay raise of her 12-year teaching career: $414 more per month.

Getting this raise was no small feat. Even after teachers around the state demanded a substantial pay increase, they still left their classrooms to take part in a two-week long teacher walkout at the Capitol building this April. They wanted to bring attention to their demands: better pay, better benefits, and better treatment of teachers.

Oklahoma’s State Board of Education is set to approve a record-breaking number of emergency teaching certifications at its meeting Thursday, a strong indication a statewide teacher shortage is still growing.

Results from a new survey show the recent teacher pay raise has had little immediate effect on the state’s teacher shortage, and that schools will still start the year with nearly 500 unfilled positions.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel about the election in Oklahoma which made medical marijuana legal in the state and saw a runoff election without Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb, but instead between former Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett and Tulsa businessman Kevin Stitt.

When the Oklahoma Legislature passed House Bill 1010xx in March, it was the first time lawmakers had increased state taxes in 28 years. Both the House and the Senate applauded themselves.

The governor acted swiftly to sign the bill, and at first, it seemed like a reason for school leaders to celebrate. They had been begging lawmakers to increase teacher pay for years, and it finally happened.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Poltical Consultant Neva Hill and sitting in for Ryan Kiesel is Oklahoma City Democratic Representative Forrest Bennett about arguments before the state Supreme Court on a repeal of a tax paying for raises to teachers, school support staff and state workers and a new study places Oklahoma number one in the nation and number one for countries with a population of more than 500,000 in incarceration.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday over the legality of a petition to overturn new state taxes.

The petition, which is being circulated by an anti-tax group called Oklahoma Tax Payers Unite, seeks to overturn HB1010xx, a $430 million tax package lawmakers passed this year. The legislation raises taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, imposes a new tax on cigarettes and little cigars and increases oil and gas taxes from 2 percent to 5 percent.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel and Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill about a statement from the Attorney General's Office supporting a referendum petition to repeal a tax to pay for raises to teachers, school support staff and state workers while at the same time Attorney General Mike Hunter faces a heated primary against challenger Gentner Drummond over the airwaves.

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Poltical Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel about a grand jury investigation into the State Health Department finds reprehensible and inept practices leading officials to believe the agaency was insolvent and the subsequent layoff of nearly 200 people, boycotts and challenges are growing against a referendum petition to remove tax increases to pay for raises to teachers, school support staff and state workers as are questions of the validity of the petitions themselves and Tulsa Pub

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel about Governor Fallin vetoing Senate Bill 1212 which would have allowed anyone over the age of 21 to carry a gun without a permit while signing Senate Bill 1140 allowing private adoption agencies to deny services to anyone based on religious preferences and the newly created and funded agency which will audit state agencies and decide how they should spend their money and which services to provide.